The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-09-02

y
it, when every thing is upturneo swim tne
and every thing eLllius
YOU of what you have lost. Get you hliho
of of it. They might as well advis y you
TO stop thinking. You can not stop IL INK
ing, and you can not stop thinking in Il VaU
direction. Take a walk in the fresh am
Why, along that very street, or that very
road, she once accompanied you. Out OF
that grass plot she once plucked flowers,
or into that show window she looked,
fascinated, saying:
"Come, see the pictures"
Go deeper into business! Why, she was
associated with all your business ambition,
and since she has gone you have no ambi-
ton left.
Oh, this is a clumsy world when it tries
to comfort a broken heart 1 can build
CorIiss engine, / can paint a RaphaePs
e'Madonna," I can play n Beeth0Fen's
SYMPHONY as easily as this world cam
comfort a broken heart. And yet you
have been con1forted! How was it done?
Did Christ come to- YOU and say:
"Get your mind of this; go out and
breathe the fresh airs plunge deeper into
businessy"
No. There was minute when he came
to you-perhaps in the watches Of the
night, perhaps in your place of BusinessC
PEI aaps along the strickland he bfsathed
neLulnG AnIO your soul Audb EaFb lBCAsCg3'
rest, infinite quiet, so that you could ta&s'
out the photograph of the departed one and
look into the eyes and the face of the dear
one, and say:
cit IS ell right; she is better off; 1 would
not call her back. Lord, thank thee that
thou hast cOmforted my poor heart"
There are Christian parents here who are
willing to testify to the power of this
Gospel to comfort. Your son had just
n nd &c
going into business, and the Lord took
him. Or your daughter had just gradu-
ated from the young ladies' seminary, and
you thought she was going to be useful
woman and of long life; but the Lord took
her, and you were tempted to say:
Gan this culture of twenty years for
nothing"
Or the little child came home from school
with the hot fever that stopped not for the
agonized prayer or for the skillful physi-
clan, and the little child was taken. Or
the babe was lifted out of your arms by
some quick epidemic, and you stood won
dering why God ever gave you that child
at all, if so soon He was to take it away.
And yet you are not repining, you are not
fretful, you are not lighting against God.
| What has enabled you to stand all the
/ trial?
"Oh,' YOU say, 81 took the medicine that
| God gave my sick soul. In my distress
| threw myself at the feet of a sympathiz-
| ing God; and when / was too weak to
/ pray, or to look up, he breathed into me a
peace that think must be the foretaste of
/ that Heaven where there is neither a tear,
nor farewell, nor a grave"
! Come, all We who have been out to the
| grave to weep there-cOme, ali We comfort
| ed souls, get up off your knees. Is there
| no power in this Gospel to sOOthe the hearth
Is there no power in this religion to quiet
the worst paroxysm Of grief? There comes
/ up an answer from comforted widOwhOod,
| and orphanage, and childlessness, saying;
"Aye, aye, we are witnessesP'
| Again, 1 remark that we are witnesses
of the fact that religion has power to give
| composure in the last moment. 1 shall
never forget the first time confronted
| death. We went across the corn fields in
the country. 1 was led by my fathers
hand, and we came to the farm house
| where the bereavement had come, and we
saw the crowd of wagons and carriages;
but there was one carriage that especially
attracted by boyish atten ton, and it had
black plumes. 1 said:
"What's that? what's that? Why those
black tassels at the top?"
After it was explained to me, was
/ lifted up to look upon the bright f. &c of ar
! aged Christian woman, who three days
| before had departed in triumph. The
whole scene made an impression never
/ forgot.
In our sermons and in our lay exhorta
! tions we are very apt, when we want tC
| bring illustrations of dying triumph, to 81
back to some distinguished parsonage
| to a John Knox or Harriet Newell. Bu
| 1 want you for witnesses.
l want to know if you have ever seer
anything to make you believe that the re
ligion of Christ can give cOmposure in tn,
final hour. Now, in the courts, attorney
jury and Judge will never admit mer
hearsay. They demand that the witnes
must have seen with his own eyes or hearC
with his own ears, and SO 1 am critical il
my examination of you now; and wan
to know whether you have seen or heart
anything that makes you believe that tn
religion of Christ gives composure in tn
final hour.
"Oh, yes" you say, az saw my father
and mother depart. There was a grea
difference in their death beds. STANDING
by the one we felt more veneration. b.
the other there was more tenderness.
Before the one you bowed perhaps in awe
In the other case you felt as if you woul'
like to go along with her. How did the.
feel in that last hour? How did the.
seem to act? Were they very muc
frightened? Did they take hold Of thi
world with both hands, as though the.
did not want to give it up?
''Oh, no." YOU say; 'nO, l remember a
,, though it were yesterday; she had a kline
word for us all, and there We're a few
mementoes distributed among the chill
dren, and then she told us how kind w
I must be to our father in his loneliness
and then she kissed us good-by and wen
asleep as a child in a cradle"
What made her 50 composed? Nature
courage?
"No," you say, ''mother was very nerv
Gus; when the carriage inclined to the sid
of the road she would cry out; she was a
: ways rather weakly"
{ What, then, gave her composure? Wa
l il because she did not care much for you
and the pangs of parting were not great
"Oh," you say, "she shOwered upon u
] a wealth of affection; no mother eve
2 loved her children more than mother love
us; she showed it by the way she nurse
; us when we were sick, and she tOiled 70
; US until her strength gave out"
: What, then, was il that gave her com
posture in the last hour? Do not hide il
Be frank and let me know.
: "Oh," you say, it was because she wa
l so good; she made the Lord her portion
and she had faith that she would &
straight to glory and that we should a
meet her at last at the foot of the throne.
Here are people who say: az saw
Christian brother die, and he triumphed.
: And some one else: Il saw a Christia
sister die, and she triumphed."
Some one else viii say; Il saw a Chris
: tian daughter die, and she triumphed."
Come, all We who have seen the last mo
: ments Of a Christian, and give testimon
: | in this cause on trial. Uncover you
! heads, put your hand on the old famil
Bible, from which they used to rea
| the promises, and promise in the presenc
= of high Heaven that you will te
the truth, the whole truth an
nothing but the truth. With what yo
Q nd